Defy Extreme Wood Stain Natural Pine 1-gallon

Defy does a good job at supporting their products.

This stain works well however, not sure it’s the stain but now we have squirrels chewing on the deck. Never did that before using the stain. Weird.

Our wood deck is 32 years old. We have used DEFY stain for the life of the deck (no other products). Defy Extreme Semi-Transparent Wood stain has been sold the last 15 years but DEFY had a very similar water based stain we used prior to that (before "nanoparticle" technology). Wood decks aren't supposed to last +32 years. This stuff really works. We have seen no peeling of the stain over the 32 years. It wears off on the floor boards over time & fades slowly everywhere but no peeling. Manufacture says apply wet on wet or it will peel, but again, we have applied a 2nd coat the next day (where first coat looked light) & stain has never peeled. A deck that peels is you worst nightmare, we had a previous deck that was painted & peeled.In applying the stain 2 weeks ago (6 years since last application), highly recommend spraying it with a HVLP sprayer rather than application with a brush. Only back-brushed the floor boards & steps as the wood sucked the stain up on the vertical boards. This time used the Defy Stain Stripper & Defy Brighter before the stain. This is the first time we used the Defy Stripper & strongly recommend you powerwash (in lieu of hand scrubbing) w a fairly aggressive tip to remove the old deck stain after the stripper. The stripper provides a much more uniform new stain experience. My husband is 63 years old & we have retired from hand scrubbing & brush application. From our experience this stain is very watery and tends to drip down the back of your hands when using a brush on vertical surfaces. Once it dries you need paint thinner to remove it (even though it is water based).We have not replaced a single floor board/spindle/rail/lattice or step on this deck in 32 years. We have installed some screws due to warping floor boards, used uses a wood chisel/sand paper in several places on a few floor boards, but that is all. This Defy stain is expensive but worth your money! If you applied more often than every 5 or 6 years as we did, you might obtain better results (floor and top railing fade before the rest). Buy it.

I like this product and would order it again

I stained a new, pressure treated (2x6 material) pine deck last year... I was not happy with the results (poor adherence, peeling and flaking), but to be fair to Defy, I don't think I waited long enough for the ACQ to dry from the wood. I stained after 3 months, when I should have waited longer. Also, tried to stain in sections, instead of the recommended complete length of board, and ended up with distinct, visible areas of overlap (stopping and starting). Don't do this! Complete a length of board(s) before you stop. This is a penetrating stain; if you don't follow the instructions to a T, you will have poor results.This year I rented a random, orbit floor sander and using 36 grit paper, stripped the entire deck (500 square feet). Last year I used the recommended large brush to apply but found that to be very messy, although pretty quick and easy. This year I donned my knee pads and used a 3 1/2 inch staining paint brush. Much slower but I felt I had really good control of the application. Because I had such poor results last year, this year I only put on one coat, in hopes of minimizing any chances of flaking, plus I felt like trying to get the second coat down in a timely manner was going to be too difficult since I have such a large deck - if you put it down after the first coat dries, you won't be happy. This year I observed the stain penetrating nicely into the wood, and my application was much more uniform. I could also basically apply a "second coat" by simply back-brushing, as I progressed onto untreated surfaces. I believe the recommended wait of 20 minutes before applying a second coat, could be too long depending on your climate. Where I live should be "within 20 minutes."This year the staining turned out really well, and the color is awesome (light walnut). My plan is to apply a second coat in late fall/early winter before a threat of freezing. After consulting Defy, I learned that applying additional coats is dependent on the "water test." If you put drops of water on the deck, and they absorb right into the wood, then you can apply another coat. If the water doesn't absorb, then an additional coat will not penetrate and you'll have poor results (flaking, poor adherence). This water test should be done on several areas of the deck; not just one spot. If my test results with the water not absorbing right away, then I will wait till next year to apply the second coat (I guess I did a good job of staining, if that happens). My intent of applying a second coat, is to have the deck in a condition, where I won't have to stain it for a couple of years.My color turned out great this year, so I have trouble understanding some of the reviews that speak of poor color. Last year, I ordered some sample stains from Defy's web site, and stained scrap wood, in order to choose the best color. This is a good method to use, if you are unsure about how your type of wood will look with stain. Another good hint is to be careful of the sun. This stain will dry too fast if you apply it in direct sunlight; you want it to penetrate into the wood, not dry on top of it. I have two boards that I'm worried about, because the clouds went away as I was staining, and it seemed they dried a little too fast. Not much I could have done; once you start don't stop until you complete the entire length of board.The only thing that remains to be seen, is how durable and long it will last before I have to re-stain.

It looks nice, but I would never call the color light walnut. It still has a reddish tint so maybe they should call it "red walnut". They really need to come up with a few more colors to choose from. It's a great product though. We don't know about the longevity yet since we just used it. Maybe you can mix the darker color stain they have with the "light walnut" and come up with a medium color. You have to buy 2 gallons to do that though.

The application was simple. I don’t know yet about it’s durability, too soon to know as spring isn’t here yet. Used this last fall. Right now all I can say is that I haven’t noticed any issues with the shovels’ handles.

After a lot of research I did my front deck with this stain and it has held impressively with only minor (and very easy to do) touch ups over a couple years of use (on high traffic areas such as the stairs' edging).I made the mistake of using a different stain all together for my other deck last year (one of the best stains directly available in the Canadian market) and I am already seeing signs of failure ... I wished I stayed with Defy Extreme.

A nice penetrating stain. Will give it a winter and a summer to give a more accurate review.